10 from city down with swine flu

On Thursday, a 34-year-old resident of Kharghar and a 60-year-old woman from Badlapur died of swine flu or H1N1 infection at city hospitals, taking the toll of the disease to 27 in the state this year.

mumbaiUpdated: Feb 06, 2015 00:51 IST

Priyanka Vora Hindustan Times

On Thursday, a 34-year-old resident of Kharghar and a 60-year-old woman from Badlapur died of swine flu or H1N1 infection at city hospitals, taking the toll of the disease to 27 in the state this year.

As many as 113 cases of the infection have already been recorded in the state.

A 61-year-old woman from Palghar and a 56-year-old man from Jalgaon also died because of swine flu at city hospitals since the last week of January, said civic officials.

While no Mumbaiite has yet succumbed to the infection, a 58-year-old man from Malad and a 65-year-old from Mulund are battling for life at Kasturba Hospital, Chinchpokli, and a private hospital, respectively. Doctors said both patients are on ventilator support.

With 10 Mumbaiites testing positive for the disease in the past three days, civic officials are alarmed. “We urge people to consult a doctor in case of swine flu-like symptoms and avoid self-medication. Treatment is available and there is no need to panic,” said Sanjay Deshmukh, additional municipal commissioner, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Apart from alerting health officials to screen patients with swine flu symptoms, the civic body is planning to write to schools and colleges, which, with many students crammed in one classroom, are ideal spots for the spread of the infection.

In fact, of the 10 Mumbaiites diagnosed with swine flu, two are schoolgirls. A four-year-old girl from Goregoan and a nine-year-old girl from Santacruz tested positive for H1N1 in the past three days.

“Both the girls are stable. The nine-year-old has already been discharged,” said Dr Mangala Gomare, chief of epidemiology cell, BMC.

Deshmukh said enough stock of oseltamivir, the drug used to treat swine flu patients, is available with civic hospitals. “Every civic hospital has been asked to keep two ventilators reserved [for swine flu victims],” he said. Swine-flu patients require ventilator support, as they develop respiratory distress.